Todd Dills

Veteran long-hauler uninjured in run-in with 2009 Heisman winner

Lee Roop of the Hunstville (Ala.) Times yesterday reported, fortunately, that long-haul driver Paul Clewis was uninjured and will drive out the remainder of the 2011 season after an attempted right-side pass resulted in disaster for 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram’s four-door Infiniti — and Clewis’ tractor’s front end.

“I only worry about ’em if they’re Green Bay Packers,” Paul Clewis said. “I was born a Cheesehead and I’ll be a Cheesehead ’till I die.”

Clewis, 58, was hauling a load of household goods to a storage facility off Leeman Ferry Road when his truck collided with a 2008 Infiniti G37S driven by Ingram. Clewis was making a right turn when Ingram tried to pass him on the right, the truck driver told The Huntsville Times.

“The young man, in my opinion, made a drastic error a lot of people make,” Clewis said. “He didn’t realize I had my signal on and decided he could pass me on the right.”

Todd Dills

Todd Dills is Senior Editor of Overdrive magazine and writes from Nashville, Tenn. He frequently covers business, regulatory and lifestyle topics for the magazine and at OverdriveOnline.com. His work on the “CSA’s Data Trail” series in Overdrive about the federal CSA program was awarded the highest honor in trade journalism – the “Grand Neal” – by American Business Media at the 2014 Jesse H. Neal Awards. Dills’ Channel 19 blog covers a grab bag of on-highway hearsay, owner-operator news and driver views from the roadways the nation over. His work in trucking journalism builds on a background of news feature, fiction and other creative writing and editing. Find him here at the Channel 19 blog and via his Twitter feed, or send tips to tdills@randallreilly.com or via phone at 205-907-2481.